Chapter 1646: Should we give it a bit of increment?

He soon regretted it...

Nai Ge Li Si watched as one after another of the towering fire god bamboo was chopped down, then driven into the earth's crust like stakes to serve as supports, and he couldn't help but sigh.

Once fine material, now mere padding.

Du Luo Ken was also torn between laughter and tears; when he first saw the fire god bamboo, he was overjoyed, but seeing Xiao Gu's patch after patch of fire god bamboo forest, he felt nothing and began to feel his hands ache.

He had already chopped down over a thousand fire god bamboo stalks, preparing to make them into fire-element staffs, but the problem was over a thousand stalks—when would he ever finish making them?

Even though fire-element staffs rely on the fire god bamboo itself, he still needed to perform extensive processing: first soaking them in fire elements for a long time to let the fire element thoroughly permeate the bamboo's interior, then using temperatures above three thousand degrees to carbonize its surface.

Only then would displaying fire magic not burn the bamboo away.

At the same time, holes had to be drilled, enchantments applied, magical sigils inscribed, and both ends inlaid with fire-element crystals or gemstones.

He also needed to wrap the grip with heat-resistant material; otherwise, when casting spells, the entire staff would heat up and blister the mage's hands.

Naturally, the best heat-resistant material was fire lizard hide, but where could he find fire lizard hide now?

High-grade star flame could be dug up easily, but fire lizard hide required going back to search, and he'd need a thousand pieces—just thinking about it made his head hurt.

So after chopping down a thousand fire god bamboo stalks, Du Luo Ken gave up on the rest, letting them do as they pleased; although called fire god bamboo, it was still a herbaceous plant, growing in vast patches.

Previously in the fire abyss, it was rare due to insufficient fire elements, but now the environment was suitable, and as much as needed could be had.

Thus Xiao Gu transplanted it to the surface, and once grown, the fire god bamboo could withstand the crust's temperature.

Adjusting its bamboo whip to grow downward, it would naturally reach the surface and then extend in all directions.

Soon, vast expanses of fire god bamboo forest appeared on the god star's surface.

With the bamboo forest grown, the World Tree as a platform no longer needed to expand, and vast amounts of vitality could be provided to the God of Life.

Thus the God of Life also began to grow vigorously.

The God of Life now used the myriad-worlds divine tree sapling provided by the sapling, exceeding its original World Tree by two levels.

The God of Life had no experience growing as a myriad-worlds divine tree and needed the sapling to teach it on the spot.

Taking root, sprouting, strengthening rootlets, absorbing star flame, transforming star flame—the God of Life regrew, everything unfamiliar, despite the sapling's teaching, specifics still required his slow exploration.

"Old tree, old tree, you lie down and grow, lie flat on the ground and extend, then everyone lives upon you." Nai Ge Li Si offered advice to the God of Life.

Using the growth plan of the myriad-worlds divine tree on Morlania's body, Nai Ge Li Si felt this growth method was good, normally lying flat on the ground; later, even if the crust were opened, those living in the tree would not be directly burned to death by star flame.

"Oh..." the God of Life assented readily.

Anyway, it had never been a myriad-worlds divine tree before; everything was being explored, and having prior tree experience to reference was naturally best.

Five billion star descendants began a new life on the body of the Abyss Maw, but soon everyone discovered a problem: they lacked reproductive ability.

"Uh, that Lord Anthony, how do star descendants reproduce the next generation?" Copper Hammer approached, somewhat embarrassed to ask.

Before Anthony could answer, Nai Ge Li Si questioned doubtfully: "You're this old—do you still want to have children?"

Copper Hammer fidgeted: "It's not impossible; being able to have more would be better, after all, the dwarf clan's numbers are still too few."

Anthony said: "All star descendants are children of the god star; wanting children, the simplest method is to 'fish'."

"Fish?" Copper Hammer blinked blankly.

"Yes, the god star occasionally nurtures some star descendants; you fish them up, bring them home to raise, then teach them to take on dwarf form, and you can strengthen your dwarf clan."

Copper Hammer looked embarrassed: "Fishing up children... isn't quite right?"

"Don't want to fish? Then reincarnate back as a dwarf and have children yourself." Anthony said.

Copper Hammer went back, worried and pondering for half a day, then returned to Anthony: "Lord Anthony, could you reincarnate some dwarves so they can have children, the children grow up and age, then we reincarnate them as star descendants—would that work?"

Anthony didn't answer immediately, for he also didn't know if it were possible; the involved problems were comparatively complex.

"How complex?" Nai Ge Li Si, pulled into the consciousness space by him, asked in confusion: "Very hard? Not hard, just have Ange extract their consciousness and stuff it into empty white crystals—wouldn't that do?"

Ursman, however, said: "Lord Anthony isn't referring to this complexity; a life's gestation consumes the god star's increment, life grows, lives, ages, dies, then returns to the god star, completing a cycle."

"Such a cycle can reduce the god star's increment consumption; if post-death life cannot return to the god star, this cycle cannot be completed—would it not accelerate the consumption of the god star's lifespan?"

Anthony nodded, his concern exactly this issue, though he also hadn't planned to find answers here with Nai Ge Li Si, dragging them into the consciousness space to discuss—mainly to let Ange hear—so after analyzing the specific problem, he looked toward Ange.

Ange nodded: "Yes, faith, with increment."

Nai Ge Li Si translated: "You mean, letting everyone devoutly believe in the god star would convert into increment, making up for this loss."

Ange nodded.

Ursman continued: "We could also seal off the god star, letting out only some light and heat, enough for ordinary life to reproduce—this would greatly reduce the god star's consumption."

Anthony also said: "Since we're already keeping some dwarves alive, why not simply restore some humans, goblins, and other life forms as well? Enrich species diversity."

Ursman said: "That would be best, though species diversity means diverse survival environments; the god star's surface temperature is too high—why not relocate them to other planes?"

"Relocate to other planes—what about sunlight? If we must open the crust, wouldn't that again waste vast amounts of increment and light and heat?" Nai Ge Li Si asked.

Relocating was to reduce consumption, but relocating would require opening the crust, letting light and heat shine upon the plane, again increasing consumption—gain not worth the loss.

Ange said: "Use, the eternal divine light's, gaze."

When the god star on the chaos face exploded earlier, the main plane and various abyss planes essentially had no light; all light came from the eternal divine light's gaze projected over.

Nai Ge Li Si slapped his waist: "Good method—this consumption is the lowest."

After discussion concluded, everyone went their separate ways to execute; life races needed no restoration—directly relocating some from the Azure God Star's dimensional space would suffice.

Coincidentally, the population there was also saturated; relocating half would just free up living space.

"Like the Azure God Star's dimensional space—this is the best model; such a tiny god star actually sustaining ten billion people, alas, lacking increment." Saying this, Nai Ge Li Si turned to Ange and said:

"Without increment, life cannot be begotten; we relocate half the population out—how will those left behind fare? Should we not give it a bit of increment?"